Tag Archives: turboprop

Catching an Evolution in the Gloom

The Lancair Evolution is not a particularly common aircraft although I have come across examples over the years. However, one slightly gloomy Sunday afternoon, I saw that one was heading to Paine Field. I understand that it might be locally based but I hadn’t seen it before and, with not a lot else going on, made the short trip up to Everett. On jaunts like this, you start persuading yourself that the clouds are going to part at just the right moment and then the sun will illuminate your subject against a dark and foreboding sky.

That has worked for me on occasion but this was not such an occasion. The conditions were still pretty dull when they showed up on approach. As is often my technique in these conditions, I shot quite heavily over-exposed. This allows for lots of detail in the aircraft to be captured and then for some masking of the background to bring it back down to something resembling what it actually was on the day. The eye does such a good job of dealing with dynamic range that it is amazing to see just how badly the exposures can vary in conditions like this. Getting the most of the data from the initial image and then letting the post processing techniques bring it back to what you actually saw is the way I like to go. This plane flew quite a bit after this day but never when I had a chance to catch it again so no sunny shots of it I’m afraid.

Testing the Nosewheel on the A400M

If you have heard much from the flying displays at the Royal International Air Tattoo this year, you may well have heard about the Luftwaffe A400M doing a wheelie. I will cover that too but the whole approach to land was one that tested the nosewheel of the aircraft quite a bit. They made a tactical approach to land and aimed for a touchdown point closer to show centre so near the crowd and one that would be a good demonstration of how quickly the plane can stop once on the ground.

The approach was nose low and, while they did aim to flare the aircraft before touchdown, the nosewheel was the first to make contact with the mains following a short while afterwards. Since this plane is designed to operate from austere strips, the gear is pretty tough, and I doubt a touchdown on a smooth runway is going to cause it undue stress. They then stamped on the brakes and reversed the prop pitch to bring the plane to a rapid stop.

The next part of the manoeuvre was a bit problematic. Keeping the prop in reverse, they started to back up the runway. A crew member was on the ramp as it opened to guide them. They put in a ton of nosewheel steering to swing the plane around, but I don’t think there was much weight on the front of the plane, and the tyres were skidding across the surface, and the turn was not as dramatic as intended.

Then came the fun bit. As they backed towards the edge of the runway, instead of applying some power to the props to stop them, they applied wheel brakes. With the plane going backwards and the braking action under the centre of the airframe, the plane pitched up and the nosewheel came off the ground. It didn’t go too high, and the ramp never hit the ground, but it certainly got everyone’s attention in the crowd! I wonder how the debrief went after the display.

Kemble’s Other Residents

My visit to the TBAG event at Kemble was quite a while ago now. However, still more to share from that day out. The airfield is home to the Buccaneers and the Phantoms that I have posted about but there are some other aircraft that are parked there. This includes one of the Ex-British Airways 747-400s that were painted in retro liveries. There is a Gnat painted in Red Arrows colours, and a Canberra PR9 in a silver scheme. Both look good.

A Hunter is also in a silver scheme which is a nice addition and there is a Bristol Britannia that I have posted about previously. These are all by or close to the café so any visitors to the airfield will have a few cool planes to check out during their visit.

An Epic Skirting the Sun

Epic E1000s have shown up on the blog before and in less than ideal conditions. Sometimes you just have to work with what is available. It doesn’t stop me trying, of course, and when another one was due in to Boeing Field and the conditions looked promising, I headed out. When I was in place and they were getting closer, the sun was playing games with me. I would have some nice light for a while and then the clouds would drift back in again. They wouldn’t stay long and then sun would be back but the question was, what would it be like at the critical moment. At Boeing Field, I have often had good light further up the approach (and too far away), cloud over the ideal location and then sun again as they get to very short final but again too far for a decent shot. Would this be one of those days?

No! On this occasion, the conditions played ball and, as the E1000 came zipping down the approach, the sun was out in all the right places. I grabbed some shots and the blues in the paint really did seem to pop. I was quite satisfied. I did get one more Epic encounter at BFI before we moved away which was from the other end providing a different type of shot in good light but, after that, while there were lots of movements to BFI before we left, I didn’t have the chance to see them.

Humid Air Show Days Mean Prop Vortices

We had some pretty mixed weather during the course of RIAT this year. There was plenty of sun but also some rain. Even when it was dry, the humidity levels were pretty high and this meant that anyone wanting to get some vapour shots was going to have plenty of options. For the turboprop powered aircraft, when they were putting on the power, it meant that their props were pulling tip vortices. Here is a selection of shots of different planes extracting water from the air during their take offs.

Who Flies Over Our House?

Our location in Winchester puts us close to the approach path to Southampton when traffic is on a southwesterly flow. I assume there must be some airspace constraints in the area because the standard arrival procedure involves overflying us at about 3,000’ and then entering a left descending turn to come back past us when established on the approach to Southampton. While things are a bit far away, I can still get shots from the front of our house.

There are a few airlines that are regular visitors along with a pretty steady flow of bizjets. Aer Lingus Express comes in with ATR72s, KLM Cityhopper brings in the Embraer E175s and E190-E2s, Loganair has some EMB145s and then there is an airline I had never heard of before – Blue Island Airways, which also operates ATR72s from the Channel Islands. After a little while, I have got used to them all and don’t spend a ton of time watching them, but I will still look up if I hear something – I haven’t changed that much.

Weird Prop Vortex Effects on the Background

The aerodynamicist in me gets a little happy when I see shots that have the visible effects of the flow fields around a plane. Shock waves will be the most obvious example, but a trailing vortex can also cause some interesting refraction. The propeller produces a strong vortex from each blade and every once in a while, you can get a shot where the background provides enough of a pattern to allow the prop vortices to show up. I was reviewing some shots from Boeing Field of a Malibu Mirage with the PropJet turboprop conversion when I saw exactly this. Head on it can show quite well but getting it from more of a side on position was a nice surprise. Thankfully, the hangar doors in the background have vertical corrugations and this allows the flow to be seen in both directions due to the upward and downward moving blades.

Bill’s Grand Caravan Takes a Spin

Boeing Field is home to a selection of aircraft belonging to one of the planets more wealthy individuals. The founder of a large software company has his biz jets and helicopters, but he also has a Grand Caravan on floats. In common with his other planes, the registration ends with WM. I have no idea whether he was onboard for this flight or whether it was a currency trip for the crew. It is a nice-looking Caravan (they look so much better on floats) and I guess I won’t be getting a chance to photograph it again for the foreseeable.

The Skyvan Lurks in the Distance

Last year, when a group of us made the trip to Sproat Lake to see the Martin Mars one last time at their home base, we did get lucky and saw Hawaii Mars fly. While we were on the ground (or the water), some others were up above us ready to get some air-to-air shots of this mighty aircraft. They were using a Shorts Skyvan as their photo platform because it provides a good rear ramp from which to get some great shots.

Once the Mars was airborne, it headed off to do some local flying. Meanwhile, we saw the Skyvan off in the distance as it flew around awaiting the Mars to join up. Sadly, the Skyvan never came too close to us. My only shots of it were from afar. I think it is the same airframe that the group had used for the show at Abbotsford in the preceding days.

Fat Albert Takeoff and Video of Return

When I was up the tower at Boeing Field for Seafair last year, I got to play around a bit with what I shot of the Blue Angels C-130, Fat Albert. The takeoff was a straightforward as it was departing in our direction so photographing it as it left the ramp and then rotated and climbed past was the obvious choice for me. However, when it came to the return to landing, I was wondering what to do.

The threshold is a long way from the tower, so any shots of the landing were going to be quite distant and, given the heat haze, unlikely to be that good. I figured I might try video and, with the 200-800 having such good stabilisation, thought this might be practical. It turned out surprisingly well with the original video being pretty stable. I did apply a little extra stabilisation in Resolve afterwards. The worst elements are down to operator error where I had a few moments where I ended up moving the camera very jerkily and there is nothing that the post-production can do to fully disguise that! Shame I didn’t plan ahead enough and avoid having that happen when near the flare!